Process of making cork substitutes.



Ihvrrnn STATES Patented November 8, 1904.

FLETCHER H. BROOKS, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

PROCESS OF MAKING CORK SUBSTITUTES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 774,645, dated November 8, 1904.

Application filed February 2, 1904, Serial No. 191,733. (No specimens.)

1'0 (t/Z 7/71/0711, it may concern:

Be it known that I, FLETCHER H. BRooKs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore,State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Making Cork Substitutes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to processes for making a substitute for cork and the article produced by said process.

The object of my invention is to produce a simple,cheap,and effective substitute for cork, although of course it is not confined to this use alone.

In carrying out my invention I take ordinary rubber, and by means of suitable chemical agents I dissolve it or partially dissolve it, rendering it gelatinous. Any of the wellknown solvents for rubber may be used, such as chloroform, turpentine, bisulfid of carbon, benzol, naphtha, or ether. Any one of these solvents may be used, or I may use amixture of any of them. I find in practice that a mixture of bisulfid of carbon with five per cent. of alcohol makes an excellent solvent. From three to fifty percent. of sulfur, based on the amount of rubber used, is thoroughly mixed into this gelatinous mass, which produces a most effective binder. The sulfur, if desired, may be mixed with the base before the latter is mixed with the binder. IVith this binder is mixed a suitable basesuch as pulverized cork, or wood-pulp or bark, or straw or hemp, or any other fibrous material-the proportions varying from five to fifty per cent. of the binder and from ninety-five to fifty per cent. of the other material. The binder and the other material are then thoroughly mixed together and are preferably cooled while the mixing goes on, so as to prevent the evaporation of the highly volatile solvents. After a complete and moistened with another substance, such as alcohol or live steam, and then molded or pressed into sheets. pressed itis then vulcanized in the usual way, either dry or under the influence of steam.

The advantages of my invention are that by it a cheap and efficient substitute for corks can be made, and the article produced is almost absolutely homogeneous and is not filled with interstices like many of the cork substitutes now made or like the inferior grades of cork now in use. Furthermore, the article may be made hard or soft, as desired, thus fitting it for a great variety of uses.

One of the important parts of my invention is the use of rubber in the preparation of the gelatinous binder. I do not restrict myself to this material, however, as any of the wellknown equivalents therefor, such as guttapercha, might be used.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. The process of making a cork substitute, which consists in mixing a gelatinous binder, containing rubber and sulfur, with a pulverized base, heating the mixture and molding the same, substantially as described.

2. The process of making a cork substitute which consists in mixing a gelatinous binder containing rubber and sulfur with a suitable pulverized base, heating the mixture to drive oii the solvent,molding the mixture,and finally vulcanizing it, substantially as described.

3. The process of making a cork substitute which consists in dissolving rubber in a suitable solvent and mixing sulfur therewith to form a suitable gelatinous binder, mixing said After the article is molded or,

verized base, and the Whole mixture vulcan- IO ized, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afiiX my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

binder With a suitable pulverized base, heati l 1 FLETCHER H. BROOKS.

ing the mixed mass at a low temperature to drive off the solvents, molding the mixture,

and finally vuleanizing it, substantially as de- 5 scribed.

4:. A substitute for cork comprising a gelatinous binder including rubber dissolved in a suitable solvent and sulfur mixed therewith, said binder being mixed With a suitable pullVitnesses:

G. A. BRERETON, J. F. PATTIsON. 

